Helping Someone You Love
by Ryoma and Oz
Summary: When Sakuno is sad, how will Ryoma be able to cheer her up? Bad at summaries. Oneshot. Ryosaku fluff. Please read and enjoy.


**A/N: Hio! I am back. This story is gonna be a little sad… But bring back the smiles, it's RyoSaku! And if that doesn't satisfy you… I'm sorry. ._. Don't forget to review. I ain't kidding. If you don't review, I won't write anymore. Me make dat official. Sankyuu, and enjoy the story!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis at all. Or Fila. Don't look at me like that -.-**

Ryoma walked slowly down the street, sipping from his soda can, and his tennis bag slung over his shoulder. After hanging out with Momoshiro and Eiji all afternoon, he decided to head back. They went a little crazy on him. Well, crazy was an understatement. They took him to karaoke, made him sing thousands of songs, and secretly recorded all of them. That's what happened when you hang out with the Seigaku Regulars.

As he passed an alley, he thought he heard soft sniffles. Hitting the side of his head with the palm of his hand, he thought he was hearing things. But he wasn't. The cries will quiet, but he could hear them. He stepped slowly into the alley. His Fila shoes barely made a sound as he came closer to the dead end. A girl, wearing a hooded jacket that covered her head, was hunched over by the brick wall. Her tears were dropping to the ground, just like rain.

"Oi," Ryoma stared at her. She looked up, revealing two chocolate brown eyes. She then pulled of her hood, and revealed two long braids. Ryuzaki Sakuno.

"R-Ryoma-kun! W-what are you d-doing here?" Sakuno looked down, half embarrassed that her crush was seeing her in such a state. Ryoma crouched down, still holding the can of soda in his hand. He took a sip, and gave out a long sigh.

"I could ask the same about you," He looked at her with his amber cat-like eyes. She glanced up at him, and then looked away ashamed. She startled sniffling again, and Ryoma sat down awkwardly, since comforting people wasn't his strong suit. He sat there, fiddling with a tennis ball. After Sakuno gave one more sniff, she looked back at Ryoma.

"Obaa-san just went to the hospital. The doctors don't know what's wrong with her. And since my parents aren't here at the moment, I'm not allowed to see her…" She curled up into a ball, hiding her head under her arms. "W-what if it was something serious? And I can't do anything about it!"

"So you decided to hang out here," Ryoma muttered, twiddling with his thumbs. Her sniffles became sobs, and Ryoma jumped up, shocked. "Ah, um, sorry?" Ryoma awkwardly patted her back, as her racking sobs shook her shoulders. Grumbling to himself, Ryoma tried to think about how to cheer a girl up. Sadly, his dad taught him everything but that. All those talks about girls, where to look at, how to talk to them, yet no topic on how to cheer them up. Useless Oyaji.

"Sorry about this…" Sakuno said, attempting to wipe away her tears. With his free hand, Ryoma got his soda and took one more drink. It was time to use his last resort.

Ryoma grabbed Sakuno by the shoulders, and drew her to him, hugging her tightly. Her back was against his chest, and as he was hugging her, Sakuno's tears instantly slowed down, and her face turned bright red.

"R-Ryoma-kun!" Sakuno squirmed slightly, but that only made Ryoma's hold tighter. She calmed down a bit, but her face was still quite red. After a few minutes, she hugged Ryoma's arms, and since he was sitting behind her, he gave a hidden smile. The two remained like that for a bit longer, and Ryoma released his grasp on her.

"You feeling better?" Ryoma asked uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his neck, because he wasn't sure if what he did cheered her up. Throwing his tennis ball back and forth with his hands, he waited patiently for her answer, and then heard a fit of laughter.

"M-mada mada dane, Ryoma-kun!" Sakuno giggled. It was now Ryoma's turn to blush, and he took another swig from his drink. "That's not how you hug people!"

"No one ever taught me how," He muttered, looking away from her. She then burst into laughter, practically rolling on the ground. "Oi!" He grabbed her arm, trying to stop her. Thankfully, it worked.

"H-how do you not know how to hug p-properly?" Sakuno got up, brushing the dust off of her clothes, and rubbed the remains of her tears.

"At least it cheered you up, " Ryoma stood up as well, throwing his tennis ball up in the air. Sakuno jumped up to catch it, but tripped, and landed on top of Ryoma.

"Ahh! I'm sorry! R-really really s-sorry Ryoma-kun!" She got off of him, and pulled Ryoma up. Ryoma gave another one of his famous sighs, and handed Sakuno his drink.

"Drink it," Ryoma ordered her.

"Eh?!" She shouted, her voice echoing in the alley.

"Mada mada dane, Ryuzaki," He smirked, giving her the drink, took her hand, and led her out of the alley. The light from the sun was a bit blinding, but since it was sunset, it wasn't so bad. Sakuno's face turned sullen, remembering about her grandmother once more. Ryoma noticed this, and gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

"We can visit her tomorrow. I can ask my… A friend that my dad knows to come along with us," Ryoma tried to avoid bringing his Oyaji up, but somehow ended up calling his dad, his friend. He made a silent gag, and that made Sakuno smile again.

"T-thank you very much, Ryoma-kun…" She looked down, giving a small yet sad smile. "I hope that she's doing okay."

"Yeah, I'm sure she is," Ryoma said distractedly, thinking of something. He pulled his Fila cap over his eyes, and led Sakuno down the road.

"E-eto, Ryoma-kun, where are we headed?" Sakuno tilted her head slightly, trying to look up at Ryoma's face.

"Your place," He said, the cap still covering his face. Sakuno then looked away, hoping that Ryoma wasn't mad at her or anything. Did she do something wrong? Did he not want to be with her? Was she annoying? Even worse… Was he mad that she drank all of his soda?! As they finally reached Sakuno's house, Ryoma finally let go of her hand. "Well, here we are."

"Yeah…" Sakuno sighed, hoping that the moment would last longer. Ryoma stood there, waiting for her to enter her house. But what she did next surprised him.

She stood up onto her tippy toes, and kissed Ryoma on the cheek. A soft, innocent one. Ryoma pulled back instantly, slapping his hand on the cheek that Sakuno kissed. She tilted her head slightly, giggled, and whispered, "Thank you."

When Sakuno was about to turn around, Ryoma grabbed her with one arm around her waist, and took his other one to push her head to his. Lips interlocked, the two stood like that, both not wanting time to move forward. When they both needed a breath, they slowly moved their heads back, so they could look at each other.

"Nice try Ryuzaki, but I think I win this round," Ryoma smirked. Sakuno let out a laugh, and said the four words that revealed her secret at last.

"I love you, Ryoma-kun."

**A/N: I hope you readers enjoyed it. Please press that little review button over dere, and tell me how you liked it, what should be edited, anything really! Thank you for reading, and I hope you read my other stories too! BTW, I was wondering you you readers would like an epilogue! PM or Review to tell me. Thank you! I would really love to write more to this oneshot! Yours truly, Ryoma and Oz.**


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